Maternal RSV vaccination prevented about four in five infant RSV admissions in its first year in Australia

The edition in brief

In the first year of Australia's national maternal RSVpreF programme, a test-negative study in 9 hospitals estimated 77.8% effectiveness against hospitalisation for RSV lower respiratory tract disease in infants up to 6 months, rising to 86.3% up to 2 months. Protection against severe disease was similar, and effectiveness held regardless of gestation at vaccination. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends RSV immunisation for all infants under 8 months entering their first season unless protected by maternal vaccination, and has widened the high-risk criteria for a second-season dose at 8 to 19 months. A Welsh audit of 168 children under 2 assessed for suspected abuse found a repeat skeletal survey identified additional fractures in 7.1% and the only fracture in one child. In a Norwegian cohort of 747 children, each extra hour of the main parent's daily smartphone use was associated with slower vocabulary growth from 5 to 7 years, while children's own screen time mostly was not. Today's pearl: ask about the mother's RSV vaccination before deciding on infant immunisation.